


Lord Palpatine’s Library

by rudbeckia



Series: Spookylux Huxloween 2018 [17]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Mild Horror, benarmie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-01 22:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16293416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Huxloween day 17: Scared cuddling“Kylo Ren” has been asked to do a prestigious fashion photoshoot in a stately home when the original photographer cancels at the last minute. Hux jumps at the chance to help out. But there’s something there that makes them feel less than welcome, especially when Hux is careless with the previous owner’s precious book collection.Art by backtothe80scolors on tumblr.





	Lord Palpatine’s Library

Ben leapt up and pointed at the screen of his laptop. “Yes,” he said. “Yes!”  
Since the second exclamation was punctuated buy an air-punch, Hux raised his head from his book. “Good news?”  
“Yes!” Ben grinned. “Work. Proper work. Remember that awful party at Holdo’s?” Hux nodded and grimaced. “Well. One of the people I met was a publisher with Connix Magazines. She said their photographer and model let them down at the last minute and would _Kylo Ren_ step in.” Hux shrugged and pursed his lips. Ben rolled his eyes. “It’s a proper job, Hux. No more poking around crime scenes—“  
“Didn’t the sword-girl, Rey, get that permanent job anyway?”  
“Holdo’s goddaughter. Beside the point.” Ben shook his head. “This is way better. I get my work published in _Massive Mansions Monthly_ instead of the latest SOCO report. And...” Ben waited for Hux to sigh and wave at him to say more. “I have to take a slim-built, tall model with me. Someone with an aristocratic air. There’s a full wardrobe provided by the up-and-coming Italian fashionista who’s funding the photoshoot.” Ben tapped his chin. “Hmm. I wonder who I could take. D’you think Mit—“  
“I’ll do it.” Hux sat forward in his chair. “I can look like an entitled nob every bit as well as someone born into money. I will sacrifice a few precious hours to further your career. It’s only fair.”  
“Great.” Ben closed his laptop. “Get ready. We need to be there in an hour.”  
“Well then,” Hux said, rising and smiling. “Do I have to start calling you Kylo?”

 _There_ turned out to be a stately home not too far away, set in grounds that made Hux think he was in the countryside. The mansion was a huge, blocky, grey limestone pile with a broad staircase up to a pillared entrance, and mismatched wings off to either side. The asymmetry made Hux frown, although Ben did not seem to notice.  
“Help me handle my equipment,” said Ben. Hux couldn’t help his smirk and Ben laughed.  
“Oh good, you’re on time.” Hux and Ben both looked up at the interruption. From the top of the staircase a man wearing red livery looked down. “You must be Kylo Ren. I’m Cardinal, head footman. Come on in and I’ll show you what’s required.”  
“I thought we’d be meeting with Miss Connix or Madame D’Acy,” said Ben.  
“Ah no,” Cardinal said. “Madame D’Acy is apparently diverted to Luton Airport because of fog at Gatwick and Miss Connix said, and I quote, _’If you think I’m spending another second in this creepy old house you’ve another think coming’_ and announced that instead of sending a car she would rescue Madame D’Acy personally from Luton.”  
Hux raised his eyebrows. “Rather go to Luton than spend time in a distinguished mansion like this?” he said. “Unbelievable.”  
Cardinal shrugged and addressed Ben. “Miss Connix left very clear instructions on which outfit was to be photographed in which room. Said you were a professional and would manage.”  
Ben picked up his camera case. “Okay. Show is where to set up and we’ll get started.”

Cardinal ordered two more footmen dressed in red waistcoats and breeches to carry Kylo Ren’s bags and led them to a bedroom. Inside was a clothing rail containing a range of garment hangers and a basket of tailoring supplies. Hux immediately unpacked a professional-looking make-up kit while Cardinal pointed out an envelope on the dresser then slipped out. Ben opened it and read the note inside.  
“Okay. I am to take photographs of you wearing all these outfits. There’s a lighting rig already set up in the dining room, so we should start there.”  
Hux opened the garment bag labelled _dining room_ and stepped back, hands over his mouth.  
“What’s wrong, honeybee?” asked Ben.  
Hux held up a blue-green dress with a slight sheen to the fabric, a deep vee neckline, and a flared, floor-length skirt set with peacock feathers that fell in an iridescent cascade down to the hem. There was a matching circular shawl of peacock feathers fastened to fabric so fine as to be almost invisible. “I’ve never worn anything like this,” he said quietly. “It’s beautiful. Are there shoes? Jewellery? Props?”  
Ben pointed to the rack under the hanger, and grinned. “Mr Peacock in the dining room with the candlestick.”

Hux allowed Ben to style his hair then he applied makeup that took the pallor from his cheeks and brought out the colour of his eyes. Ben helped him into the dress, pinned a dart of fabric at the back of Hux’s waist to make the fit look perfect from the camera’s point of view, and stared at the final look.  
“I’ve never seen you use cosmetics before. Where did you learn?”  
“YouTube and Phasma,” replied Hux with a shrug, picking up the jewelled pumps that matched the peacock dress. “I practise when I’m alone and I feel down. Dining room, you said?”

Hux followed Ben to the room with the hired lighting rig already casting sharp shadows. Ben tutted and fiddled with the controls and the reflectors to make something softer looking, then set up his camera, taking a few test shots of Hux wandering around the room as he brushed his fingers over the furnishings. Something caught his eye as he reviewed the shots: an artefact in the side of each frame, a blur, as if something was rapidly moving out of shot. Ben frowned and tried a few shots in random directions around the room. Despite cleaning his lenses the blur persisted, but Ben reasoned that he could work around it by cropping it out later.  
“Okay, honeybee,” said Ben. “I want you to act like this is your house and you’re... doing whatever entitled nobs do whilst swishing that pretty dress around.”  
Hux laughed, head thrown back, and picked up an empty glass. He twirled and held the glass up to catch the light, then he climbed up onto the table and pretended to dance with an imaginary partner while Ben’s camera shutter clickclickclicked away.

“Okay,” Ben held up his hand. “Let’s try some sexier shots before you change into Professor Plum and we move on to the library.”  
“For your portfolio or for personal use?” asked Hux. Ben laughed, but the sound stilled in his mouth as he saw a blur in the corner of his vision. His head whipped round but there was nothing to see. “Are you okay?” Hux asked. Ben frowned and shivered.  
“Yeah, yeah. Go change into the plum pantsuit and fix your make up. I’ll ask Cardinal to help move the lighting.”

Cardinal and an army of scarlet footmen disassembled the lighting rig, carried the parts to the library and rebuilt it. Hux appeared just as Cardinal’s team finished, dressed in a deep burgundy trouser suit with a bolero jacket that accentuated his narrow waist and managed to broaden his shoulders. He had applied new makeup, smoky greys and smouldering charcoals around his eyes, which now reflected steel grey, and deep plum with a slight shimmer on his lips. Ben felt his face slip into a slack grin.  
“Wow. I want to kiss you but... You look—“  
“Can we get this over quickly?” said Hux. “The boots don’t fit me. My toes have no circulation.”  
Hux sat in the taupe leather, wing-backed reading chair and held his legs out to show how the trouser legs tucked into heeled, plum leather boots that were a size smaller than his feet.  
Ben nodded, told Hux how to pose and started taking photographs.

Despite his pinched feet, Hux appeared to love being the centre of attention and Ben thought he looked stunning. As the shoot progressed, Ben altered the lighting and the camera settings to get a range of effects and Hux played starry-eyed, stern and sultry in turn, letting the jacket slip open to reveal a glimpse of pink nipple. Ben said he ws keeping that one for himself, then he shivered and pulled his hoody into an overlap. “You warm enough, honeybee?”  
“Yes,” Hux replied, cheeks flushed, leather-bound tome in his hand. He pointed at the grate. “I love a real fire. Don’t you?”  
Ben made a noncommittal sound. “It’s not very effective at heating the room,” he said. “I’m freezing.”  
“Well then,” Hux said with a grin. “I better stoke the fire a little.” He walked over to the fireplace, crouched in a way that made his long legs look neverending, opened the oversized book and made as if to tear out a page. With a loud crackle and a harsh, sucking _whoosh,_ the fire swelled and roared pale blue then went out. At the same time, the lighting brightened painfully, forcing their eyes shut, then the bulbs popped one by one in rapid fire and plunged the room into darkness lit only by blinding, greenish afterimages. Glass tinkled to the polished parquet floor. Ben groped for his flashgun and in the brief flashes of light he saw Hux fallen over sideways by the fireplace, arms protecting his head, legs twitching, book abandoned on the hearth. Moving above Hux there was a blurred form that twisted this way and that, blue lightning cracking in its midst. It rushed at the flashgun and knocked Ben flat on his back.

Ben coughed at the rank scent and jerked at the sudden electric shocks of the spectre as it passed over him. As soon as he could move, he crawled over to Hux and knelt over him, covering him with his own body.  
“Hux! Babe, are you okay?”  
Hux coughed and wrinkled his face. He curled his legs up and Ben made room for him. After a minute, Hux uncurled and wrapped his arms around Ben’s neck.  
“What the fuck just happened?”  
“I have no idea,” Ben said. “Probably a power surge. Looked like some kind of ball lightning. I guess the electrics in these places aren’t ideal. Must have overloaded the circuits. Can you sit up?”

Hux sat up but still clung to Ben until the main lights came on and Cardinal poked his head through the doorway.  
“Ah, I see you have finished in here. Miss Connix instructed that the morning room shoot and the outdoor scene in the herb garden should be done in daylight. I have had rooms made up for you in the south wing if you would like to stay over.”  
“No fucking way,” Hux said. “I am not spending the night.”  
Cardinal’s smile tightened into a line. Ben frowned at him. “You don’t seem surprised,” he said.  
“Well,” Cardinal shrugged. “You made it further than the last photographer. Come back at seven tomorrow to make the most of the sunrise. Old Lord P should be a bit calmer by then.”


End file.
